The PR that never was...

Got in the gym today nice and early, which is like 8am.  Thats early for a workout ok!  I'm not waking up at 3am to lift, I have to do that shit on work days...damn all that.

I was there to squat...and squat I did not.  Somehow I loaded a bar for deadlifting, not thinking about it, so I went ahead with that.  Warmed up...135 x5....225x5...315x5...365x1...405x1...Now that went up real smooth.  I felt good for a PR, last PR was 415.  Loaded up 420...closed the lever, gripped....big belly of air..pulled it to about 5 inches...and that was as far as it was goin!  Oh well...next time I'll get it.

After that I dropped it to 315 and did 3x10 "power" shrugs (regular grip, clean grip, snatch grip)

Finished with 100# per hand Farmers walk up and down the BB court until the PT Testers showed up.

SO I guess I'll Squat/Press tomorrow before a wonderful 3 day work weekend.

Atlanta - Gettin it in Southern Style

Back from Atlanta.  What an awesome place!  I spent my kids birthday at Six Flags White Water, it was awesome and well worth the money.  I had Cheesecake Factory twice, and don't judge me.  I had a Kobe Burger and then went back for Fish Tacos, never had any Cheesecake though.  I had enough deserts with my son's cake (Coldstone Creamery Ice Cream Cake).  Hit up the World of Coca-Cola, pretty interesting stuff.

I was able to get in a workout early in the trip.  I found a small gym nears my Mother's that had a rack and was able to knock out 5x5 Squats @ 245# and 3x5 Press @ 115#.  Other than that I go no workouts in.  Basically, I had a full deload week, and that's okay by me.

I returned to the gym Tuesday with some Squatting:
225x5
245x5
265x3
275x2
285x2x1

Along with 3 x max reps - weighted dips @ 15# (8-7-8)

Wednesday went well, I thought..:

Press 3x5 @120#
Deadlift
315x5
335x5
365x2
385x1

Finished with 5x5 T-bar rows @ 135# and 5x5 T-bar press (might be what its called???) @ 90#, no rest between sets.

Meanwhile, the Olympics is happening.  Been watching what little coverage of Weightlifting I can, and watching all of the Gymnastic competition.  Not much to comment on but its all very inspiring.  I WILL say that I was completely disappointing with the rules limiting each country to two participants in the individual all-around.  Jordan Weiber outscored all but 4 women who qualified for the final but was not allowed...what a shame!

The Future of the Reebok CrossFit Games, from a Notso-CrossFitter

I likely could have made this blog longer, but I'm not one for typing, and I'm supposed to be packing....shit.

The 2012 CrossFit Games season has come to a close.  Froning and Thorisdotter stand victorious once again in a memorable double-repeat as the fittest man and woman on Earth.

I spent the entire weekend watching the Spectator Stream live from my work computer, with an few hours of training and Post Checks here and there.  It was an awesome thing to watch.  The contestants have unbelievable stamina and strength.  PRs were being set left and right.  Everything was as intense and electric as you would imagine.

Attendance in the Home Depot Center set records.  Not CF Games records, but HDC records for any event held at the center.  If you started following CF back when I did (2008) its was nearly unfathomable how far this sport has come.  Rags to riches, more or less.

CrossFit is growing fast and isn't showing any signs of slowing down soon.  So we have to ask ourselves, what next?  The HDC can't hold it forever.  Hell, I don't think they can seriously consider using the HDC in 2013.  2012 tickets sold out completely in a matter of days!  There are a few viable options that I think CrossFit HQ and Reebok should consider as ways-ahead for the CFG that will allow the sport to continue its growth, provide more unpredictability, and allow more spectators to visit the games.

The biggest option that is probably the favorite of mine is treating the CFG the same as the Superbowl, World Cup, World Series and countless other major, worldwide sporting events.  Move the venue every year to a new location.  There are multiple venues that can hold more spectators and still have the facilities needed for unpredictable workouts.  Many major cites have held Olympic Games over the years and still have those facilities that can be used for track workouts, swimming, weightlifting etc.  Additionally, you throw in environmental factors that people must plan for.  CFG in Denver this year?  Better plan for high altitudes.  You see where I'm going with this?  Atlanta, LA, Denver, Dallas, Columbus (Rogue would love that, right?), all of these places fit the bill.  Why leave it in America?  We are searching for the Fittest in the World, right?  How about the CFG in Berlin, or Barcelona, or Sydney.  

One thing I heard repeated again and again is CrossFit in the Olympics.  This is where I think we may be getting a little ahead of ourselves.  Lets look at this realistically.  The IOC isn't going to allow Dave Castro to show up and drop a bunch of random workouts, with sketchy programming, standards, and safety considerations.  If it was ever even allowed to be in the Olympics it would be so over-regulated it would basically end up being a decathlon with weightlifting thrown in.  Anyway, why would CrossFitters even want to be in the Olympics?  That shit is mainstream.  I thought we were the rebels.  The fitness outcasts gathering on a dusty ranch for the "Woodstock of Fitness".   The Reebok partnership stirred shit up enough, and it was much more of a blessing than initially thought.  Initially, people were jumping ship like the Titanic was goin down!

Its hard to say what next year will bring.  But I hope it keeps up the trend.  Keep growing, keep moving forward, but don't forget where it came from.  "We are the Underground", keep it that way.

CFG Atlanta 2013!!  At least I'd think it was cool.

Deuces.

No Barbell for awhile...maybe

Had to get in the last workout today, tomorrow I'm flying to Atlanta to visit family.  Not sure what the gym scene is in Hiram, GA but I wasn't really given a warm fuzzy by Google search.  I imagine there will be a sufficient amount of running, and some playground workouts if I cant find anything else. 


Maybe I'll just grab heavy things from Mom's garage and just run around the yard with them; entertain the neighbors a little, who knows?


Todays workout:


Back Squat 3x5 @ 255#
Dips 3x10
Situps w/med-ball throw 25-20-10


I'm fairly sore from yesterday's tire flipping/sledge hitting shenanigans.  Honestly didn't thing I'd be that sore but I guess I have been neglecting the tire lately, and I paid my dues for it.


My wife managed to gank my last Kill Cliff, which she enjoyed...so now I have to order enough for the both of us...  At least we'll be in the Atlanta area for 10 days and I can get it from a store...boom!

Death by Tire Flips

The stay at home workout today. Recently I had to sell my stands, barbell and weights, but I managed to retain my big ass tire (not that I can really transport the behemoth anywhere), my sledge, sand bag, and various other implements.

I revisited the Death by Tire Flips workout I discovered on StrongmanWOD last year. So with this tire (well over 600#) i can get up to five on each round, which made for a total of 30 flips. After the flips I completed what I will call a medley, for lack of a better word, of sledge hits, 2pood one-arm swings, and parallete pushups for 15 minutes.

 No real rep scheme, just do something until you can't anymore and then do something else. When I was finished I could barely hold on to my cup of water. So my arms are bruised from flips and my shoulders, traps, and forearms are sore as shit!

 I feel fuckin awesome!

Squats and Fish Oil

First day of leave today.  Its always a good feeling knowing that you're not at work when you should be and still getting paid for it.  Especially when you have to wake up at 3am to go to work...I can feel my Test level increasing already.

Last night I got in my workout late due to me not having scheduled day care this week and not being able to take my kid to the gym with me.  There was definitely something wrong with my leg yesterday.  My knee was hurting all day for no damn reason and by the end of the day there was some serious pain in my tibialis anterior, or just below that.  Couldn't tell why, wasn't really injured, just really sore.  It probably should have prevented me from squatting, but I'm a little hard-headed so when its time to squat, well.... that's what the hell I'm gonna do.

Workout:

3-3-3-3-3 Power Cleans
125#(4)-135#-145#-155#-165#

3-3-3-3-3 Back Squat
225#-245#-255#-265#-270#

100# per hand Farmers Carry (100ft x 5-6)

I got home and took like 4 grams of Fish Oil, 10,000iu of Vitamin D3 and went to bed.  This morning I didnt have any leg pain, so hopefully it wont be coming back.

In the words of Lift Big Eat Big - "If you can't fix it with Squats or Fish Oil, you're probably going to die"

Gettin it in On-the-Job

This last three days were LONG!  It was my last cycle before taking leave in Georgia.  On the last day I spent a little time in the gym. (we have one in the area where we work)

Granted, lifting heavy things while having less than 10 hrs sleep over three nights isnt the most productive thing in the world, neither is not doing shit in the gym for three days.

Worked up to heavy singles on deadlift at 385#.  After that I threw 115# and the bar and did sets of 5 on strict press until it became impossible (with pullups x 3 in between), the did sets of 5 push-press.  Really trying to get my overhead strength way up.  Finished up trying out the Klokov Press with an empty bar for a couple reps...That one could get ugly down the road, its brutal!

Klokov press is essentially a wide snatch-grip, behind the neck, strict press, or SGBTNSP if you're an acronym loving crossfitter.  It was made popular by the Russian weightlifting phenom/psychopath for which it is named.

Here is a video of the beast from Lift-Run-Bang doing it at 185# for 9 reps.

In other news, Kill Cliff hit a deal with GNC, that means you can get that shizz anywhere soon!

Georgia on My Mind

So in about a week, I'll be hopping on a plane to GA and visiting family for about 10 days, including a trip to Water World, and hopefully, Falcons Training Camp.  Otherwise this has been a fairly normal off cycle.

I made an attempt to hit up my (sort-of) college gym, unfortunately they wont let you in if your not registered for classes.  So I turned around and headed to Midtown Sports and Wellness for a little workout:

Back Squat 3x5 @ 250#
Press 3x5 @ 120#
Seated Dumbell Press 2x5 @ 50# each

First time ever doing dumbell presses but I think I need to incorporate more overhead shoulder stuff, seeing as how its my weakest point.

BTW, that was yesterday.

Today was spent at the base gym for deadlifts (only place I can use chalk...).  So today's workout went a little like this:

Deadlift 5-5-5 (315#-335#-335#)
Bench Press 3x5 @ 185#

I didn't feel very sore.  This may be due to the fact my Kill Cliff came in a couple days ago and I've been drinking the shit out of it.

If you've never heard of (or tried) Kill Cliff its the first "recovery drink" on the market. (that's not a protein shake) It is very refreshing and the ingredients have anti-inflammatory properties as well as some other benefits.  Its also not LOADED WITH CRAP like Red Bull, Monster and the ton of other gut bombs available in your local truck stop.

I drink the hell out of it regardless of the fact I can only get it online for now.  If you want to try it, click on any where in this post that says Kill Cliff and order a case, you WONT be disappointed.

My Neck, My Back! My Neck and My Back!

Friday was fairly heavy.  Once again I took advantage of an opportunity to use a local gym instead of the base gym, Midtown Sports and Wellness.  I like to go here because its clean, they have decent equipment, the rowers WORK, and they have a pool and Jacuzzi. (for recovery, of course)

After doing some rower warm-up, I hit the squat rack and worked up to heavy doubles.

Then I was interpreted.

I HATE being interrupted in a workout, however, its the nature of being a Husband, Father and Active Duty Serviceman...so be it.

Anyway, after a 45 minute rest, I hit up some bench press, working up to a heavy single (210#) and then proceeded back to the rack for heavy rack pulls (below the knee), working up to a single at 455#.

Finished up with "assistance work", which is a fancy powerlifters way of saying isolation without sounding like a body builder.  Basically 3x10 shrugs @ 315# and 3x10 elevated/weighted(25#) situps.

So you're thinking, that sounds like a lot of volume.  Well seeing as I'm not really a elite level lifter, yea, it was a shitload of volume.  Come Saturday morning I felt like a steamroller had plowed over my Traps, spinal erectors, and whatever's in between.  Even contrast baths after the workout Friday were of no help.  Needless to say, Saturday was rest.

Sunday, as I was prepping to head to the base gym for a workout, the Wife got called into work.  So what was prepping to be a little "Grace" and running, turned out to be a quick little garage burner:

70# KB Swing x 25
80# Sandbag Clean/Press x 30 (about 12 min w/time to re-tie the sand bag 3x)
70# KB Swing x 25

KB Swings were unBroken

Back feels a little tight, time to roll...

New Things

Today was interesting.  I was sore all over from previous days workouts but I know I wont be doing anything over the weekend. (3x15-17 hour shifts) So I figured I would try a couple new things and see how it goes.  First I warmed up the old Deadlift to 315x5 and tried out some 315 Deadlift Carries.

These are fairly simple; simply do a deadlift, then walk a distance carrying the weight, easy enough right?  

I liked these, it was something like poor-mans Yoke walks.  (I'll have a Yoke one day)

Next up was Zuercher (spelling?) squats.  These are the ones where the bar is held in the pit of your elbow...I have a feeling this will be felt in the abdominal region tomorrow!

I also threw in some tire flips and farmers walks for good measure...

Sandbagging in a Good Way

60 Pounder

Finally got around to building my own sandbag this morning.  I was cruising around the interwebz last night and checking out ITS Tactical when I came across a sandbag building article written by Jake Saenz.  Jake is the owner of Atomic Athlete, and a partner gym of Military Athlete.  These guys specialize in make war-fighters harder to kill...basically.

The article was the easiest I've found involving the construction of a homemade sand bag using my green canvas bag from basic training.  20$ worth of rubber mulch from Home Depot and I was done.

ITS Sandbag Training/Building Article

So I got mine up to the recommended starting weight of ~60 Pounds.  Afterwards I decided to test it out with 10x100m sprints (50m out/50m back), with about a minute rest between.  Fairly brutal way to start it out.

Later this evening I'll get into some of the other movements and see where I stand with them.  A whole laundry list of shit to do with a bag can be found in the previously linked article, and a video to boot.

If you're also interested in other knowledge of tactical shit, self preservation and general usefullness I recommended browsing around ITS Tactical and maybe even picking up a Crew Leader membership.

Getting back at it.

Obviously its been awhile since I've kept up with my own blog.  Trying to keep up the training, summer's here which means it close to PT testing time again and I probably should step up the conditioning a bit.  Where I live there should be no problem finding stuff to do to get the heart rate up.  Lots of trails to run, outdoorsy shit to do, good stuff like that.

Got a little strength in this morning.  Didn't hit it too hard though, the weekend was long hours, little sleep and two days of the flu that I'm still recovering from.  Gonna do some conditioning tonight with some running with/without heavy objects being carried, some body weight stuff, etc..

I'll try to keep this thing better updated, especially now that I have followers. (2 to be exact).

See you out there...

2-4-12

2 Pood KBS - 90 Reps (6x15)
2x20 V-Situps
2x20 Abmat Situps

2-3-12

5 Rounds (Not For Time)
3x135# PC
3xTire Flips

Then...

100 Sledgehammer hits

1-31-12

Squat 3x5
260#

Bench 3x5
175#

Hip flexors hurt...kinda alot

Odd Moment

So I checked the old blogger today and noticed that I got like 80 pageviews last night.  Which is about 77 page views more than I've gotten on any other night...

Me thinks something is afoot...

1-25-12

Deadlift 5RM

345#

Completed this a little too soon after dinner and almost revisited my chicken, still made it though.  I love seeing this number go up.

1-24-12

Squat 3x5

Press 3x5

Squats 255# (reset after failing in 265#)

Press 105# (reset cuz my stupid ass hasn't done them in forever!)

1-21-12

Went for 3x5 Back Squats @265#

2 Good sets and failed the 3rd rep of the last set.  Failed hard, dropped the bar over my head with a nice loud bang...

Plus side I didn't injure myself...wasn't too happy about it.  Just a bad set up really, didn't focus and let my mind drift...being sloppy.  Either way, I'll reset to 255 and progress 5# per session, should be repping 315 within a few months, NBD.

Sunday's gonna be a rest day me thinks...Monday I head back to work at 3am.  Love my job.

1-20-12

Not feelin it today.

SWOD:

Power Clean 5x3
130#

This is what happen when you don't do your LP on power cleans for months.  You get weak at them.  I can pull 415# for a dead but only Clean 130 for 3...gahhh.  There is an obvious line between strength and power and I need to work more on the latter. (Without sacrificing the other)

CFFB posted a DWOD today but I may have to come up with my own for equipment sake.

Here's some info from the Interwebz on Strength vs. Power training:

Peak Performance UK: Strength or Power, Which One Matters Most...

1-19-12 CFFB

DWOD
5 Rounds 2 x 133% BW Back Squat
30yd Sprint
Rest 1-2 min

For me the weight was 265 (Approx 133% of 200) Fastest rounds (4th/5th) were 35 seconds.  There was transition time between Squatting and going to the street but not too bad.

SWOD

Bench 3x5
175#
Lowered weights to reinforce new technique learned from Westside Barbell (Pinch Scap/Spread Bar...etc.)

Finished w/ 5-5-5 Pullups and 10-10-12 Dips

ChAoS & PAIN: A Complete Aside To Discuss How Much America Curre...

AN interesting and funny read for rest day. This guys blog says it all...in a colorful way. Colorful meaning he swears a lot a uses random naked chicks...

ChAoS & PAIN: A Complete Aside To Discuss How Much America Curre...: For those of you who are American, I'm sure you know we appear on the precipice of some dark days. If you've not attempted to access Wiki...

1-17-12 CF Football Day ONE

SWOD - Deadlift 5RM

W/U
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 3
Work
335 x 5

DWOD

8 x 1/2 Gassers On the minute
all between 20-22 Sec
Followed by 100 Evil Wheels (Made it to 30 before painful)

I used barbell rollouts for evil wheels.  Either way their painfull, probably be just as painful tomorrow

1-16-12

Good Mornings
5-5-5-5-5
95-115-135-155-165

Romanian Dead Lift
3X5 @ 185

Didn't really plan to workout today but I threw in these assistance movements for good measure.

Last week's Workouts

I haven't been posting to my log as I should...I'll try to remember this.

1-15-2012

Up to 1RM Front Squat
135 x 5
155 x 5
165 x 5
185 x 3
205 x 1
215 x 1
230 x 1

1-14-2012
3-3-3-3-3 Back Squat
225-245-265-275-280

2011 Wrap Up

Quite an interesting year.  I actually don't recall what I was doing for New Years, or if I made any resolutions.  I know that I was preparing to travel to Spain for 6 months as my "deployment".  I also weighed 240 pounds, mostly fat, failed an AF PT Assessment and as far as strength went, Squatted nothing, Deadlifted Nada, Benched crap, did no pull ups, but ran a respectable (for a 240# fatass) 12:30 1.5 mile. Here's a good before pic.

End of 2010

I left for Spain with a plan to return fitter than I had begun the year, this would be no easy task considering I was going to SPAIN...  I was armed with nothing, no knowledge of S&C programs, so knowledge of lifting period.  The first video I saw of a push jerk looked like an incredibly dangerous lift because your feet come off the floor!

When I arrived I began the usual workouts...running...thats it.  After a few days I checked out the base gym, pretty small not a lot going on, they had a rower, which was intriguing.  A few weeks later I was looking around and found the CrossFit site.  After some research I jumped on the message boards and began reading, not just posts but linked studies and athlete blogs, etc.  I ordered my copy of Starting Strength and read that thing F2B.  After most of the research I concluded that I would not be able to Cardio my ass down to 200#, and that with my build and genetic makeup I had 2 choices, fat or strong.  So I took my new-found knowledge and hit the iron.  I found out pretty quick how weak I was, but I kept at it.  The nice thing about being a being a Noob at lifting is the gains come real fast.  I still ran regularly and even completed a series of 5Ks in April.  I started running repeats, 5 x 400, 10 x 100, etc.. and became a HUGE fan of rowing. (Still am) By my 30th birthday I had already begun seeing results and the guys I was deployed with noticed as well.  My DL had gone from nothing to 335#, most of my strength numbers were getting up to respectable levels.  I hit up a 550 lap challenge in the pool and for the first time I was able to hit the beach without a T-shirt.  I remember having my first non-farmer tan, it was pretty cool. Sidenote, the beaches in Spain are LEGIT!, I highly recommend Cadiz or Conil de la Frontera.

Sunset in Cadiz, sittin at a Bar

By the time I left Spain I was 210 pounds and much fitter (read: better looking) than when I had arrived, My Dead lift was 405# and I was Squatting 245 for 5x3.  42 days later I had to reaccomplish my AF PT test and scored my first excellent score...ever.  I continued progress after returning home and became a regular visitor to the base gym here.  Ending the year I squatted 315# and pulled 415#, I also bench 210#, but have never really been a regular bencher, which is something I plan to work on in 2012. Here's a quick Before/After to show some progress.

On the way to the airpot in Jan/Driving in LA in Aug

At the end of the year I took most of my saved money, Christmas money, and pooled some resources to put together my own garage gym, which has yet to be named...

The only things I'm lookin for now are some Oly Lifting shoes, and a used keg.

Plans for 2012? I'm glad you asked...

500# Deadlift
415# Squat
250# C&J
200# Snatch
315# Bench
200# Press
 In that order, pretty much.

I also plan on making a career change to a new and better job, I've already made my promtion to E6 (another 2011 accomplishment) which opened up opportunities to crosstrain into a new field.

Fingers crossed...

Holy hell its been awhile since I've blogged anything, working on a 2011 wrap-up, should be legit...